Zork I
This is basically a tweak on Bill Piercy's strategy, with a few moves cut
when leaving the mine, and one or two others saved elsewhere. It also
uses the "again" bug found by Steve Einbinder. 350 points are achieved
at 223 moves, and the full game is finished at 228. To my knowledge,
this is the fastest possible solution.
A few notes before we get started: first and foremost, this is not the most
fun way to see the GUE. It is, however, the fastest. So, if you've never
played it before, do yourself a favor and give it a shot unaided. This
solution makes use of some tricks and one bug in the programming in the
interest of getting the minimum possible turn-count. There's a lot of
saving and restoring until you get the desired outcome from the RNG, but
I've set it up so that you won't have to spend an inordinate amount of time
doing so. I've listed points and moves along the way, so you can see if you
screwed something up without having to get all the way to the end.
TRIP 1: Egg/Dungeon Prep: N, N, U, TAKE EGG, D, S, E, OPEN WINDOW, W, W,
TAKE LAMP AND SWORD. MOVE RUG, OPEN CASE, OPEN TRAP
TRIP 2: Troll/Cyclops/Thief/Treasure Room Trip: D, TURN ON LAMP, S, E,
TAKE PAINTING, W, and N. SAVE(44/21). N, and KILL TROLL WITH SWORD (keep
restoring until you kill him on the first move). SAVE(44/23).
Onto the maze - W, S, E, U, TAKE COINS. SW, E, S, SE. You may run into
the thief along the way. If he "abstracted some valuables from your
possession", great. If he hurt you, restore. You need him to steal the
egg sooner or later. If not, he'll get it soon. Onto the Cyclops Room:
ULYSSES (or ODYSSEUS), SAVE(54/33). U. The thief will attack you on first
sight and you'll probably be hurt. Restore until you make it in completely
untouched, SAVE. GET STILETTO. He will swing it out of your reach.
That's OK, just make sure he doesn't hit you back. If he does, restore
until he misses you, then go D. Once you get back to the cyclops room, SAVE
(79/36). Type "G" without the quotes. This will tell the computer to "Get
Stiletto" again, and, due to some shoddy programming on Infocom's part, it'll
respond with "Taken". Hooray! You can now kill the thief with your sword
in one hit.
If he didn't steal the egg earlier, you need him to do it now.. When you hit
"G", you wanted this message. If you didn't get it, restore and try again:
"Taken.
A seedy-looking individual with a large bag just wandered through the
room. On
the way through, he quietly abstracted some valuables from the room and from
your possession, mumbling something about "Doing unto others before..."
This will leave you with just your sword and your lamp. Once you get that
message, SAVE (79/37). U. Watch it, he can still hit you when you enter
the room. Make sure you get in unharmed. Once you have, KILL THIEF WITH
SWORD. Keep restoring and attacking until you kill him on the first hit. Once
he's dead, SAVE(79/39). You can now take a short break from the constant
saving and restoring and get back to the game.
TAKE BAG, PAINTING, CANARY, CHALICE AND EGG. Then D, E and E to the Living
Room. PUT ALL BUT LAMP AND CANARY INTO CASE. OPEN TRAPDOOR. SAVE(116/45).
TRIP 3: Gold Coffin and Bauble: W, W, U, type in "TEMPLE" (without the
quotes), D, OPEN COFFIN, TAKE COFFIN AND SCEPTRE. U to Temple, then S and
PRAY. You are now in the forest Go E, WIND CANARY, TAKE BAUBLE, S, E, W, W,
PUT ALL BUT LAMP AND SCEPTER IN CASE. SAVE(151/63).
TRIP 4: Reservoir/Rainbow: D, N, E, D, NE, E, N, N, PUSH YELLOW, TAKE
WRENCH AND SCREWDRIVER. S, S, TURN BOLT WITH WRENCH (the sluice gates open),
D, TAKE BOAT, U, W, DROP BOAT. N and N again (won't work, but will wait out
the reservoir draining and cost you two moves). Then, N, N, N, and TAKE
TRIDENT, S, TAKE PUMP, S, TAKE TRUNK, S, PUMP UP BOAT. PUT ALL BUT LAMP AND
PUMP IN BOAT. DEFLATE BOAT. TAKE BOAT. SAVE(175/96).
Then SE, D, ECHO, TAKE BAR, E, E, S, DROP BOAT. PUMP UP BOAT, GET IN BOAT
and LAUNCH. TAKE BUOY. Go E, GET OUT OF BOAT and walk N. TAKE SHOVEL, NE,
DIG SAND WITH SHOVEL (four times!). DROP BUOY AND SHOVEL. OPEN BUOY, TAKE
SCARAB AND EMERALD. SAVE(195/119).
Then, SW, S, and PUT BAR AND EMERALD IN BOAT. TAKE SCEPTRE. DEFLATE BOAT.
TAKE BOAT. Then walk S. WAVE SCEPTRE. W, W, TAKE POT, SW, U, U, NW, W, W.
TAKE SACK. OPEN SACK. W and PUT SCEPTRE AND POT AND SCARAB IN CASE. DROP
ALL BUT PUMP. PUMP UP BOAT, TAKE TRIDENT, TRUNK, BAR, AND EMERALD. PUT
ALL IN CASE. TAKE LAMP, GARLIC AND SCREWDRIVER. SAVE(257/145).
TRIP 5: Hades/Mine: W, W, U. Type "TEMPLE", then N, TAKE TORCH, S, TAKE
BELL, S, TAKE BOOK AND CANDLES. SAVE(271/155). D. (keep restoring until you
get through without having your candles blown out.) D to the Entrance to
Hades and DROP CANDLES. RING BELL, TAKE CANDLES. READ BOOK. S. TAKE SKULL.
Then, N. SAVE(281/164).
U. Keep restoring until the wind blows out your candles. N, TOUCH MIRROR, N,
W, N, W, N, GET JADE, E, PUT TORCH, CLOVE AND SCREWDRIVER IN BASKET.
SAVE(286/175).
W, and keep reverting and going W until bat gives you a lift to the Ladder
Bottom. SAVE(286/176). Then S, TAKE COAL, N, U, U, N, E, S, N to Gas Room.
Then U, S, PUT COAL IN BASKET and LOWER BASKET down to Drafty Room.
SAVE(286/189).
Then W, and keep reverting and going W until you catch the Batmobile to the
Ladder Top. (You can't get carried back to the bottom again.) D, W, DROP ALL,
W, TAKE SCREWDRIVER, COAL AND TORCH. S, OPEN LID, PUT COAL IN MACHINE and
CLOSE LID. FLIP SWITCH WITH SCREWDRIVER, OPEN LID and TAKE DIAMOND. Then N
and PUT ALL IN BASKET. Then E and TAKE SKULL, LAMP AND JADE and head for the
Gas Room: E, U, U, N, E, S, N. TAKE BRACELET. Then, U, S to the Shaft Room.
RAISE BASKET and TAKE DIAMOND AND TORCH. SAVE(314/218).
W. (keep restoring until the bat drops you off at Mine Entrance). S, D. Go U
and PUT ALL BUT LAMP IN CASE, scoring 350 points. SAVE (as 350/223). E. E. N.
W. SW. ENTER BARROW.
Your score is 350 (total of 350 points), in 228 moves.
This gives you the rank
of Master Adventurer.
Copyright Jimmyhaha, first written 2/22/2009